The division of 9th grade students into different World History classes has encouraged teachers Tony Graziano and Andrew Leniton to work together as a team to develop and improve the course curriculum.

Beginning this year, 9th graders were separated into two history classes, one taught by Graziano the other by Leniton. Although their teaching methods differ, they work together to ensure that students are exposed to the same curriculum at the same time.

“It really is about balancing the schedules  for the administration, teachers and students, if I only taught one class in 9th grade, there would be no AP World History,”  Leniton said.

Both Graziano and Leniton have unique teaching styles. According to Leniton, his class is more interactive and evaluative while, according to former students, Graziano’s has more story telling and note taking.

“The goal is to have most of the activities student centered, not just talk all class like the traditional, farmhouse, 1800’s traditional lectures,” Leniton said.

According to Graziano, he uses many strategies of teaching, that include DBQs and debates, to hook students into the lesson and create more careful responses from students.

“I like to diversify my strategies do different activities on the subject, if I feel that the book covers a subject, I use it, but if the book is weak I will cover,” Graziano said.

Graziano’s lessons cover many of the same topics found in most history classes, but with each topic he tries to add a twist. Students find this approach very interesting and remember his teaching methods years after the class.

“He pours his soul into every lesson,” Camila Velez, 11th grader, said.

According to Leniton, both classes have an analytic based structures, since this year the History department decided it is better and easier for students to better understand.

“This is the reason why DBQs are awesome, and this is the reason that we focus on them so much since they kind of kill two birds with one stone. You work with primary documents, but also deal with historical documents,” Leniton said.

Despite the many positives, there have been some challenges. Keeping up with the curriculum can be hard for both teachers, but the rapidly solve the obstacles.

“You try to keep pace with it, that is oftentimes a difficult thing to do, keeping pace with what you’re supposed to cover in the time frame of the bimester,” Graziano said.

Students believe that the changes opened opportunities to have different points of views about history and  the chance to compare the different methods.

“The teacher’s styles are clearly different but it is cool to hear the stories of the other class and what they do differently,” Nicolas Londoño, former history student, said.